Tag Archives: women businesses

It’s difficult to narrow down all the leading women entrepreneurs of 2016 to just 15, but this impressive group is worthy of the effort. See all the leading ladies below:

Sarah Kauss, S’Well

A Colorado native and lifelong environmentalist, Kauss founded S’Well to sell a high-end version of an unlikely product: a water bottle, which goes for $45. The company booked $47 million in revenue in 2015.

Lynn Jurich, Sunrun

Jurich is out to bust the myth that solar energy is too expensive, claiming it saves homeowners 20 percent on electricity. This year Sunrun began offering homeowners energy storage facilities to save even more.

Vicki Saunders, SheEO

Saunders’s organization taps independent women investors (at as little as $1,000 a pop) to fund zero-interest loans for women entrepreneurs. SheEO is now doubling its efforts in Canada and rolling out internationally.

Hollander‘s business is built on a simple fact: Women purchase 40 percent of condoms and yet marketing and packaging in the industry has always been largely male-targeted. Plus Sustain Condoms are Fair Trade-certified and nontoxic.

Trish Costello, Portfolia

With her online platform, Costello wants to expand women entrepreneurs’ circles. At this year’s United State of Women Summit at the White House, Costello stated a bold goal: $1 billion in investment in women-run enterprises.

Miki Agrawal, Thinx

With controversial marketing, Agrawal is upending the feminine hygiene market with highly absorbent, antibacterial underwear for women with periods. Ads for Thinx were banned in various U.S. cities in 2016–proving there’s no such thing as bad press.

Christine Hunsicker, Gwynnie Bee

One third of women in the U.S. wear sizes 10 to 32 but, as Hunsicker noticed, there was a gap in the $120 billion women’s apparel market. So she founded a company that rents out everyday, plus-size clothing via a subscription service.

Stephanie Tilenius, Vida Health

Coaches at Vida work one-on-one with people suffering from chronic conditions. This year, the service helped 58 percent of a group of UnitedHealthcare patients with high blood pressure lose weight over a five-month period.

Lisa Skeete Tatum, LandIt

Designed to help women out of a career rut, Landit announced a $2 million seed round in March. It provides job listings and a career playbook because, Tatum says, “the challenges of advancement, the challenges of engagement, are more acute with women.”

Kathryn Finney, Digitalundivided

In addition to serving as an accelerator for black and Latina women founders, Finney’s organization studies “the Real Unicorns of Tech,” or black women founders, who it says have received less than half of 1 percent of venture funding over the past five years.

Natalia Oberti Noguera, Pipeline Angels

Instead of writing a check to charity, Noguera’s organization helps women become angel investors and fund social enterprises run by other women. The number of U.S. cities in which Pipeline offers bootcamps surpassed 30 this year.

Janica Alvarez, Naya Health

The modernized breast pump made by Naya Health is meant to allow women to more comfortably feed their babies breast milk for longer. This year the company raised $3.9 million and received FDA clearance.

Jessica Matthews, Uncharted Play

The small, movement-powered energy systems developed by Uncharted Play are currently in jump ropes and soccer balls; next are strollers and suitcases. That’s why Williams recently closed what she says is the largest Series A round ever raised by a black woman.

Heidi Zak, ThirdLove

Few women would say shopping for a bra is a pleasant experience. That’s why Zak hopes to win customers over with an app that measures women’s bra sizes at home using just a few short questions.

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